Vacuum Recommendations

I currently live in a condo (with laminate and carpet) and have a black lab. We'll be moving into a house soon where the floors will be either tiles or hardwood. Anyone have any suggestions on a good vacuum?

I'm not interested in getting central vac at the house. I'm looking for a good vacuum that will pick up dog hair on hardwood, tiles and carpet (in the bedrooms).

I've bought a $100 vacuum before from Walmart.. it has now died after a year. I found that my cheapo was great when i first got it but over the months, its ability to suck up hair/ dust deteriorated. Some people have recommended I try the Roomba. I personally haven't tried it but I can't imagine that thing being too powerful. Plus, I don't mind vacuuming myself.

Any help would be appreciated! Thanks!

I have a Kenmore by sears, and I love it (I have 5 cats, so LOTS of hair:D )
The first one I had died after 2 years, and Sears gave me a new one free of charge!! I have carpet, tiles and laminate.
I had a Kirby, but found it to heavy and awkward!
I think my cats would kill the roomba:eek: they would think it's a toy!

my mom has a Dyson & totally loves it. She lucked out and got it during a really good sale, for under $300. I plan to get one soon too.

You got it the Dyson Animal it is unbelievable. I vacuumed my friends livingroom she has 3 Mastiffs and does it daily. I was shocked at how easy it was and the amount that came up with one go over worth the money. I think they have a really good guarantee also

I don't know a good one (other than a heavy duty shop vac), but eureka isn't good... The hose narrows and the hair gets all stuck.

Can't say I'd recommend my Hoover canister vac, either. I spend WAY too much time unclogging the hose. On the bare floors the broom does a much better job, or a microfiber mop.

The Dyson one is designed for pet hair

I have a Kenmore...it`s not bad but sure sounds like the Dyson is alot better. I`ll definitely look into that one when my Kenmore bites the dust.

I have a Kenmore by sears. I wouldn't recommend it.. Longer dog hair plus my hair gets wrapped around the beater bar.. If you don't rip the powerhead apart way too often and clean it out you burn it out.. which I've done before..

Happy it hasn't died in the multiple years we've had it.. but it's nothing to write home about..,. If I can kill it again I was also looking at the dyson..

Might be different with a Lab (short, needle-like fur), but with my sister's dog (long, black, Collie-type fur), the only thing that works on the carpets is the dog's brush. Seriously. She has to go around on her hands and knees brushing the carpets. Sometimes she gets her 16 year old son to do it (isn't that why we have kids? :p ). That's the main reason she's slowly getting rid of every patch of carpet in her house. No more carpet brushing. :D

Thanks to everyone for your response and feedback! I'll definitely have to look into the Dysons.. I also found a Hoover Bagless Hepa Filter one at Costco for about half of Dysons's cost that I'll check out. I knew I didn't want to deal with the "bag" vacuums and after having the Bassel one, I don't want to deal with the "container/canister" ones either. The dust and fur just flew all over the place whenever I went to empty the container.

just an FYI - I've heard through the grapevine of family friends, that the new Bissell Liftoff cord contains LEAD. there are warnings you should wash your hands after handling the cord... I don't know about you, but if I have to scrub down after vacuuming, I'm worried....

You may want to check what Good Housekeeping or Consumer Reports has to say about models you're interested in.

I've found that so long as you can get to all the various filters to clean them they all pretty much work the same.

I only have laminate flooring and use a rechargable stick vac, a Shark 6.0V. My place is about 800 square feet and the battery is good to do the whole place twice. I tend to vacuume every second day or so (I hate sweeping) and usually only have to empty the canister type compartment once in the middle, once at the end. It was a really good buy, only $39.99 on sale at Canadian Tire.

Ooh, Pet Friendly, I'll have to look for one of those! I hate sweeping, too, but it's not worth hauling the vac around when I have to sweep afterwards, too.

Has anyone ever used the bare floor cleaning machine? I think it's a Dirt Devil-it's supposed to wash and then dry your floors. I wanted one for Christmas, but my husband refuses to buy vacuums or other domestic type appliances as Christmas presents-just in case he gets in trouble!:evil:

We got a Eureka "The Boss" about a year ago, and we've had great luck with it so far. Our floors are combo of hardwood, ceramic tile, and carpet. The suction is really good on all types of floor, especially when you use the hand wand for getting in corners ... tons of suction. We have a Rotti, so the coarse hair never really got picked up when we had a Kenmore. They run around $200 (Canadian), and I think you can get them at Wal-Mart, and Sears (ours was a present ... thankfully NOT from my husband). Although I haven't tried the Dyson, it sounds like it would be a good bet. The price is considerably more, though; I saw one the other day, and it was around $650 for the pet model.

Best of luck to you!

March 2006 Consumer Reports recommends:
Kenmore Progressive with Direct Drive <USA#>35922 or 35923 <CDN# > 30801C = $300
Kenmore Progressive with Direct Drive <USA#>36932 or 36933 = $300 <CDN#>30670C = $350
Eureka Boss Smart Vac Ultra 4870 = $140/ $165 cdn
Canister model recommendation is Kenmore Progressive 25512 or 25513 = $300 <CDN> 22261C = $450

Wow - no wonder my little Kenmore is still chugging along 18 years later :)
Hope that's helpful.

After great consideration and sound advice we've received from this board and some others, we've settled on the Dyson 07 model (not the animal one). The real difference between the 07 and 14 is that the 14 comes with a lot of add-on tools and the carpet cleaning kit.

I'll be moving into our house in January and well, considering only 4 rooms will have carpet in it, I don't think it'll be worth my while to pay an extra $150 for the gadgets.

I'll be picking up the 07 tomorrow night..anyone know of reasons why I should buy the Dyson d14 ANIMAL model over the 07?

Thanks again! :)